The disclosure relates to turbofan engines.
Gas turbine engines and similar structures feature a number of subassemblies mounted for rotation relative to a fixed case structure. Such engines typically have a number of main bearings reacting radial and/or thrust loads. Examples of such bearings are rolling element bearings such as ball bearings and roller bearings. Typically such bearings all react radial loads. Some such bearings also react axial (thrust) loads (either unidirectionally or bidirectionally). Ball bearings typically react thrust loads bidirectionally. However, if the inner race is configured to engage just one longitudinal side of the balls while the outer race engages the other longitudinal side, the ball bearing will react thrust unidirectionally.
Tapered roller bearings typically react thrust unidirectionally. Two oppositely-directed tapered roller bearings may be paired or “duplexed” to react thrust bidirectionally. An example is found in the fan shaft bearings of U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011/0123326A1, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and which is entitled “Bellows Preload and Centering Spring for a Fan Drive Gear System”.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2013/0192198, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and which entitled “Compressor Flowpath”, discloses a flowpath through a compressor having a low slope angle.
For controlling aspects of the flowpath passing through the fan duct, some turbofan engines include controllable features such as variable fan blade pitch and variable area fan exhaust nozzles. U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,539, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and which is entitled “Propeller Pitch Change Mechanism”, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,659, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and which is entitled “Variable Area Fan Exhaust Nozzle Having Mechanically Separate Sleeve and Thrust Reverser Actuation System”, disclose respective such systems.
Unless explicitly or implicitly indicated otherwise, the term “bearing” designates an entire bearing system (e.g., inner race, outer race and a circumferential array of rolling elements) rather than the individual rolling elements. The term “main bearing” designates a bearing used in a gas turbine engine to support the primary rotating structures within the engine that produce thrust. This is distinguished, for example, from an accessory bearing (which is a bearing that supports rotating structures that do not produce thrust such as the fuel pump or oil pump bearings in an accessory gearbox).
There are several different factors influencing flowpath geometry at certain locations in the engine. Weight, material strength and aerodynamics influence desirable core flowpath radius at different locations within the compressor and turbine sections. As noted above, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2013/0192198 discloses certain advantageous aspects of flowpath geometry within a compressor. This, however, may be competing with considerations regarding the core flowpath elsewhere in the engine. For example, the presence of an actuation mechanism or variable pitch fan blades may mandate a relatively large hub diameter. Similarly, the presence of a drive gear system axially between the compressor and the fan may also cause relatively high core flowpath diameters. Normally, it may be desirable to minimize radial turning of the core flow between such high radius sections and a lower diameter compressor section downstream thereof. Of particular importance to flowpath geometry and overall engine efficiency, however, are the bearing arrangements used to support the various rotating structures; improvements in this area are, therefore, always of interest to the turbofan engine designer.